Journeys Through Bookland, Volume 7 | Page 2

199 "IS IT THE TIPSY CAKE, THEN?"
Herbert N. Rudeen 206 "HERE, LUCY!" Herbert N. Rudeen 224 "AH,
YOU'RE FONDEST O' ME, AREN'T YOU?" Herbert N. Rudeen 243
GORILLA WITH HER YOUNG Herbert N. Rudeen 251 THE
BATTLE OF THE ANTS Herbert N. Rudeen 265 WATCHING FOR
THE LOON R. F. Babcock 272 THE SKYLARK R. F. Babcock 276
KNEELING TO DRINK R. F. Babcock 281 SALMON FISHING
(Color Plate) R. F. Babcock 286 THE RED SQUIRREL STEALING
CORN R. F. Babcock 296 "HOW MUCH DO WE OWE YOU?"
Herbert N. Rudeen 320 MICHAEL IS COME BACK
Herbert N.
Rudeen 326 "MY MOTHER!" Iris Weddell White 336 IN HER
SEPULCHRE THERE BY THE SEA Donn P. Crane 342 THE
NIGHT RACK CAME ROLLING UP G. H. Mitchell 344 THE
CRESCENT MOON WENT BY G. H. Mitchell 347 I LOOKED INTO
THE CABIN R. F. Babcock 354 WHITTIER'S BIRTHPLACE (Color

Plate) 382 JOHN GREENLEAF WHITTIER (Halftone) 386
WILLIAM CULLEN BRYANT (Halftone) 392 THY FIGURE
FLOATS ALONG Jerome Rozen 396 OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES
(Halftone) 398 DOWN THE SUNNY GLADE Walter O. Reese 409
JAMES RUSSELL LOWELL (Halftone) 412 ELIZABETH
BARRETT BROWNING (Halftone) 420 DON QUIXOTE (Heading)
Donn P. Crane 431 DON QUIXOTE TILTS WITH THE
WINDMILLS Donn P. Crane 439 "DEFEND THYSELF,
MISERABLE BEING!" Donn P. Crane 444 THE LION PUT HIS
HEAD OUT OF THE CAGE Donn P. Crane 455 SANCHO FELL ON
HIS KNEES Donn P. Crane 464 THE HORSE BLEW UP, WITH A
PRODIGIOUS NOISE Donn P. Crane 475

THE DAFFODILS
By WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,-- A host of golden daffodils Beside the
lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They
stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand
saw I, at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced, but they Outdid the sparkling waves in
glee; A poet could not but be gay In such a jocund company; I
gazed--and gazed--but little thought What wealth the show to me had
brought.
For oft, when on my couch I lie, In vacant or in pensive mood, They
flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my
heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.
[Illustration: A HOST OF GOLDEN DAFFODILS]
When we look at this little poem we see at a glance that the stanzas are

all the same length, that the rhyme scheme is ababcc (see "To My
Infant Son," Vol. VI), and that the indentation at the beginning of the
lines corresponds with the rhymes. This poem, then, is perfectly regular
in form.
There are other things, however, which go to make up perfect structure
in a poem. First and foremost, the words are so arranged that the
accented syllables in any given line come at regular intervals. Take, for
instance, the first two lines of this poem. Each line contains eight
syllables. If you number these syllables 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 2, you will
see that it is the second one each time that bears the accent, thus:
I wan´dered lone´ly as´ a cloud´ That floats´ on high´ o'er vales´ and
hills´.
Now, if you read the four remaining lines of the stanza you will see that
in each one of these the second syllable bears the accent, until you
come to the last line, where in the word fluttering, which, by the way,
you pronounce flutt´ring, the accent is on the first syllable. If the poet
did not now and then change the accent a little it would become tedious
and monotonous.
It is a very simple matter, you see, to separate every line of poetry into
groups of syllables, and in every group to place one accented syllable
and one or more syllables that are not accented. Such a group is called a
foot. Thus in each of the first two lines in this poem there are four feet.
Each foot contains an accented and an unaccented syllable.
If you examine To the Fringed Gentian, To a Mouse, and To a
Mountain Daisy, the three poems which follow this, you will see the
same structure, except that in To a Mouse and in To A Mountain Daisy
there are some short lines and some double rhymes, making the last
foot a little different in character from the others.
When a line of poetry is composed of two-syllable feet in which the
second syllable bears the accent we call that meter iambic. It is the
prevalent foot in English poetry, and if you examine the different
poems in these volumes you will